I have a tournament coming up in a couple of weeks so I wanted to post a bit of progress on some new models. At the end of 8th edition I had just started to convert my mostly metal miniatures over to the newer plastic miniatures. Fortunately before most of the stuff had gone OOP I was able to get my hands on a few Lion Chariots, White Lions, and Sisters. My new list has 2 lions chariots, something of which I had not really used previously. So since I have to get them ready to go for this upcoming tournament I figured I would do a bit of progress reporting.
I picked up one fairly busted up Lion chariot online and since I want to use most of the Lions for Dragon Prince conversions I figure I would improvise a little….
Trying to figure out how this chariot will come together
I also decided to magnetise the standard Lion Chariot together which proved a lot harder then I first thought it would.
And currently where I am up to now with just the painting left to go.
Last edited by Houdini on Fri May 23, 2025 2:58 am, edited 7 times in total.
Magnetising the Lion Chariot was definitely ambitious, it used up way more time then I thought it would . However I hope I can then swap it out for horses as a Reaver Chariot, or I thought I can at least use the lions as unit fillers if I don’t have the chariot in my list.
I have only really based all 3 models so far, so I am going to have to push pretty hard in the next two weeks to at least get them game ready.
I did finish 5 of my plastic White Lions this week though. I’m going to use them as my Sword Masters in this list, since I’m going for a Lion themed army. I’m also going to be trying an Autumn themed basing as this will probably go better with the Lion Cloaks on my army.
Far out it has been too long since I have posted an update of my progress.
I have a few unfinished projects on the go now the main one being the revival of my original Imrik model that I bought 20 years ago but never completed. As the kit was old, bent and broken most of my time was spent getting him back together which took a lot of putty work! I have him at least base coated now, and I was going to paint with the original box art colours but then figured I would test out some colours that better fit into my army update. Imrik himself has not yet been painted at all.
I have also been continuing on my Chracian themed army work which has lead me to convert Sisters to be more on theme. The Sister conversions were a bit more time consuming then I originally thought just to get the kits bash to fit together a bit more seamlessly. Next I will hopefully work on some Woodsmen conversions.
It actually wasn’t too hard to fit the two pieces together. You just have to cut half of the arm plate from the Lion Cloak in order to fit them together (not sure my picture is clear enough to show this). You could spend some extra finessing with the hobby knife and putty work to get them perfect but I think generally they go together as well as any 7th or 8th Ed mould. The arms with the bows then fit in very nicely. Adding the Great Blades on the other hand was a fair bit more work to figure out if the Sisters arms would work with the position or if I needed to use White Lion arms instead. Then I just did a bit of putty work to fill in some of the missing arm areas and hands on the Axe.
I recently put together some Chracian Woodsmen. I used the Shadow Warrior torso and arms with a small axe conversion, then used White Lion legs and helmets. I’m going to try something a little different for the White Lion cloaks on these guys. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to paint them up in the next few days.
I like what I see. I am considering a conversion of my own, trying to make 10 to 12 Chracian woodsmen out of mixture of stuff. Wood elf lower bodies, a charioteer lower body, a pair of Dark elf corsair lower bodies.
Wood elf glaives, a pair of White lion axes, a pair of handaxes and what bodies I can scrape together.
Ramesesis wrote: ↑Sun Mar 09, 2025 9:50 am
I like what I see. I am considering a conversion of my own, trying to make 10 to 12 Chracian woodsmen out of mixture of stuff. Wood elf lower bodies, a charioteer lower body, a pair of Dark elf corsair lower bodies.
Wood elf glaives, a pair of White lion axes, a pair of handaxes and what bodies I can scrape together.
It will not be easy though.
Woah that will be so good! Lots of different variation in that unit for you will make the unit look very interesting. I really wish I had more helmetless heads - particularly dark elf ones. And As you said it won’t be easy, any level of kit bashing or converting requires a lot more effort and time. So much more planning when something doesn’t work just right.
They look great and very dynamic. They're looking both very much related to White Lions, and very much distinct. Great job.
As for helmetless heads, I think most of the older kits contain a few of them, mainly for unit champions. So there are always one or two. And I always have a bunch left over after each build, which I just save in my bits box in case I need them for a later project. So maybe you can find a few that way.
Ramesesis wrote: ↑Sun Mar 09, 2025 9:50 am
I like what I see. I am considering a conversion of my own, trying to make 10 to 12 Chracian woodsmen out of mixture of stuff. Wood elf lower bodies, a charioteer lower body, a pair of Dark elf corsair lower bodies.
Wood elf glaives, a pair of White lion axes, a pair of handaxes and what bodies I can scrape together.
It will not be easy though.
I think some of the older kits are easier to convert than the newer ones. So the charioteers should be ideal for instance. The new kits are wonderful and all, but they're made in such a way that the can only go together in 1 way, often with arms attached to torso's and the like. Which makes them easy to work with but hard to convert. The older kits however tend to feature all bodyparts separately, which makes them relatively easy to convert and kit-bash.
Either way, it should be a fun and educational project. All the conversions I've done in the past have taught me an aweful lot about both putting together models and basic sculpting.
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!
Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 168/157/17
Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.
Prince of Spires wrote: ↑Mon Mar 10, 2025 8:51 am
They look great and very dynamic. They're looking both very much related to White Lions, and very much distinct. Great job.
As for helmetless heads, I think most of the older kits contain a few of them, mainly for unit champions. So there are always one or two. And I always have a bunch left over after each build, which I just save in my bits box in case I need them for a later project. So maybe you can find a few that way.
I think it’ll come down to how well I can integrate some Lion Cloaks onto these guys. I have two ideas in my head and just had a bit of a test tonight. I’ll hopefully get some photos up in the next couple of days.
I do have a few left over helmetless heads from different kits so I’ll be able to do a few more without helmets. I just wish I was able to have them all without helmets.
Prince of Spires wrote: ↑Mon Mar 10, 2025 8:51 am
I think some of the older kits are easier to convert than the newer ones. So the charioteers should be ideal for instance. The new kits are wonderful and all, but they're made in such a way that the can only go together in 1 way, often with arms attached to torso's and the like. Which makes them easy to work with but hard to convert. The older kits however tend to feature all bodyparts separately, which makes them relatively easy to convert and kit-bash.
Either way, it should be a fun and educational project. All the conversions I've done in the past have taught me an aweful lot about both putting together models and basic sculpting.
100% agree. The Sisters torso were really hard to place Axe wielding arms with. They required lots of manipulation and putty work, to even still not get it perfect. Putty work is easily my biggest weakness, but the Chracian theme I am going for has really forced me to make a lot of attempts and learn new things and should hopefully see me improve over time.
Okay so I have had a quick attempt at creating a bit of a fur pelt over the top of the Shadow Warrior robe. I think I am fairly happy with the concept but not entirely sure I pulled it off well. The other option I tested was to paint the fur texture on the entire robe (in the photo I painted it on one of my Sister models as a tester).
I like the first one, with the White Lion trim on the SW cloak, better I think. It's a bit more subtle and it should look great on a whole unit of them.
As a side note. With the proliferation of Lion Cloaks in the AJ, I fear those White Lions are becoming an endagered species. At their height, there were something like 200.000 lions in Africa. Ulthuan is far smaller and far more densly populated. I would be surprised if they manage even 10% of that number. For instance, there are an estimate 650 lions in India, which feels like a more appropriate number. If we assume 1.000 lions in Ulthuan, then just outfitting a single army with them will kill 10% of all White Lions. Unless of course there are giant Lion farms on Ulthuan somewhere...
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!
Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 168/157/17
Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.
Prince of Spires wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 11:08 am
I like the first one, with the White Lion trim on the SW cloak, better I think. It's a bit more subtle and it should look great on a whole unit of them.
As a side note. With the proliferation of Lion Cloaks in the AJ, I fear those White Lions are becoming an endagered species. At their height, there were something like 200.000 lions in Africa. Ulthuan is far smaller and far more densly populated. I would be surprised if they manage even 10% of that number. For instance, there are an estimate 650 lions in India, which feels like a more appropriate number. If we assume 1.000 lions in Ulthuan, then just outfitting a single army with them will kill 10% of all White Lions. Unless of course there are giant Lion farms on Ulthuan somewhere...
I fear you are wrong here, at least about some elements. Way back in the day, I produced calculations on the size of Ulthuan as part of an exercise for my Uni studies and tried to make population estimates as well. During that process, I talked with GW's dev team to see how far off my estimates were and they were off by quite a bit. By their own words there probably aren't more than 500 000 elves on Ulthuan.
Ulthuan in size is similar to Kazakhstan or Argentina, and by GW's count its population density would be no higher than 0.2 elves per kilometre square. As a comparison Africa today's population density is just shy over 50. The last time Africa had a population density of 0.2 was way back around the time the great pyramids at Giza were constructed.
While I agree with you that the proliferation of Lion Cloaks cheapens the background of the item taking into consideration the size of potential Chracian population and what segment of that population would be warriors and their long lifespans it is not impossible to maintain a population of White Lions healthy and keep a decent segment of Chracian warriors clad in their furs.
Prince of Spires wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 11:08 am
I like the first one, with the White Lion trim on the SW cloak, better I think. It's a bit more subtle and it should look great on a whole unit of them.
As a side note. With the proliferation of Lion Cloaks in the AJ, I fear those White Lions are becoming an endagered species. At their height, there were something like 200.000 lions in Africa. Ulthuan is far smaller and far more densly populated. I would be surprised if they manage even 10% of that number. For instance, there are an estimate 650 lions in India, which feels like a more appropriate number. If we assume 1.000 lions in Ulthuan, then just outfitting a single army with them will kill 10% of all White Lions. Unless of course there are giant Lion farms on Ulthuan somewhere...
I fear you are wrong here, at least about some elements. Way back in the day, I produced calculations on the size of Ulthuan as part of an exercise for my Uni studies and tried to make population estimates as well. During that process, I talked with GW's dev team to see how far off my estimates were and they were off by quite a bit. By their own words there probably aren't more than 500 000 elves on Ulthuan.
Ulthuan in size is similar to Kazakhstan or Argentina, and by GW's count its population density would be no higher than 0.2 elves per kilometre square. As a comparison Africa today's population density is just shy over 50. The last time Africa had a population density of 0.2 was way back around the time the great pyramids at Giza were constructed.
Oh wow. I do remember your calculations and considered them to be quite reasonable at that time. The numbers by GW being that low really begs the question how they can maintain any reasonable infrastructure on Ulthuan besides 'magic did it.' The whole island must feel close to deserted and a lot of former glory simply crumbling away.
It also makes me wonder about population in the colonies, where my army is based...
Prince of Spires wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 11:08 am
I like the first one, with the White Lion trim on the SW cloak, better I think. It's a bit more subtle and it should look great on a whole unit of them.
As a side note. With the proliferation of Lion Cloaks in the AJ, I fear those White Lions are becoming an endagered species. At their height, there were something like 200.000 lions in Africa. Ulthuan is far smaller and far more densly populated. I would be surprised if they manage even 10% of that number. For instance, there are an estimate 650 lions in India, which feels like a more appropriate number. If we assume 1.000 lions in Ulthuan, then just outfitting a single army with them will kill 10% of all White Lions. Unless of course there are giant Lion farms on Ulthuan somewhere...
I fear you are wrong here, at least about some elements. Way back in the day, I produced calculations on the size of Ulthuan as part of an exercise for my Uni studies and tried to make population estimates as well. During that process, I talked with GW's dev team to see how far off my estimates were and they were off by quite a bit. By their own words there probably aren't more than 500 000 elves on Ulthuan.
Ulthuan in size is similar to Kazakhstan or Argentina, and by GW's count its population density would be no higher than 0.2 elves per kilometre square. As a comparison Africa today's population density is just shy over 50. The last time Africa had a population density of 0.2 was way back around the time the great pyramids at Giza were constructed.
While I agree with you that the proliferation of Lion Cloaks cheapens the background of the item taking into consideration the size of potential Chracian population and what segment of that population would be warriors and their long lifespans it is not impossible to maintain a population of White Lions healthy and keep a decent segment of Chracian warriors clad in their furs.
Fair enough. I imagined Ulthuan slightly more densely populated. Which would decrease the number of possible lions. With that figure it's probably somewhere between 5.000 and 20.000 white lions in Ulthuan (with Argentina being 11 times smaller than Africa and white lions mainly living in Chrace). The low end of that number would have trouble sustaining any decent size WL armies. The higher end would be okay, assuming they cultivated them carefully.
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!
Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 168/157/17
Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.
Prince of Spires wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 11:08 am
I like the first one, with the White Lion trim on the SW cloak, better I think. It's a bit more subtle and it should look great on a whole unit of them.
Thank you for the feedback! I have completed the cloaks on just 5 of them and hopefully have some painted soon. A long way to go for a unit of at least 20
I myself hadn’t overly thought about the over use of the Lion cloak on a Chracian army and the Lion population. But I kind of always thought a better fluff perspective would’ve been if the White Lion Warriors had to catch and raise a War Lion, and become companions kind of like a war horse. Only once the Lion passed could they make a Lion Cloak from the hide for use in battle. Obviously doesn’t fit the fluff all that well but I always thought of it as a nice sentiment.
Good luck with getting all 20 of them done. Sometimes I do wonder what we put ourselves through with these kinds of projects
And I like your sentiment of Chracian warriors raising white lions and fighting beside them. Even if the average white lion would live 10 times as long as real world lions, they'd only get to be about 100-150. Which is only a fraction of an elven life. It does sort of get a mention in the fluff. In the 8th edition (and 7th ed.) unit entry for White Lion Chariots for instance it mentions that if a white lion cub is found, it is raised by elves and becomes as loyal as griffons, and they're subsequently used to pull chariots. So there's definitely room in the lore for this kind of behavior. Though there is something slightly morbid about wearing the skin of your pet...
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!
Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 168/157/17
Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.
I always bite of way more then I can handle, especially with two little kids at the moment. I feel like I can only ever get any painting done in the middle of the night. My specific Woodsmen conversion is going to be time consuming, but I have one more GT coming up in April. I’ll be using the Grand Army for this, though after that tournament I have set myself the goal of completing my Chracian Warhost and I won’t play a tournament until they’re ready to go!
You have stumped me with the Lion Cloak fluff . My concept was a bit morbid put like that, I’m going to have to just accept the Lion Cloaks look cool and they just exist.
Okay so I have had a quick crack at testing out the paint job on my Woodsmen. Paint job on this one is only about 70% complete, which over all I am happy with so far. I am now really happy with how the fur trim on the Shadow Warrior Cloak has turned out. Also I tried to improve my miniature photography - just testing out a few different techniques.
Unfortunately I am away for work now for the next week so I won't get the chance to add anymore to my Woodsmen project during that time
He looks great. Very much his own thing but also recognizable as related to both White Lions and Shadow Warriors. I would add a bit more contrast to the lion fur trim and call it a day
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!
Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 168/157/17
Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.
Ramesesis wrote: ↑Thu Mar 27, 2025 8:49 pm
Nice! That is a real inspiration!
Thank you Ramesesis!
Prince of Spires wrote: ↑Fri Mar 28, 2025 10:23 am
He looks great. Very much his own thing but also recognizable as related to both White Lions and Shadow Warriors. I would add a bit more contrast to the lion fur trim and call it a day
Thanks again Prince! After taking the photo I'm definitely going to go much lighter with the Lion Fur. I initially did have the Fur lighter and then decided to test a wash over the top to tie it together, which obviously just ended up making the Fur really dark
Took some photos of an old unit filler I made for the White Lions when playing T9A. Figured it could be a good proxy for 2 x War Lions or still used as a unit filler for a core unit of White Lions.
That's an impressive and scary looking lion. I like it. And good idea on making it useable as unit filler as well. It's a good way to beef up a unit of WL. Though I've got 35 of them if they're all assembled, so for the moment I'm good I think.
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!
Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 168/157/17
Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.
Prince of Spires wrote: ↑Fri Mar 28, 2025 10:23 am
He looks great. Very much his own thing but also recognizable as related to both White Lions and Shadow Warriors. I would add a bit more contrast to the lion fur trim and call it a day
Thanks again for the support Prince. I will hopefully have an update on the progress of the Woodsmen very soon. Including some completely painted models (taking on your advice for a bit more depth on the Pelts).
In the meantime I have only had minimal time for hobby work unfortunately. I have just made a small board to serve as both my photo base but also as difficult terrain for my Warhost. The piece may be a bit too big in a competitive environment as it is currently 12 x 8. It was a quick project in which my two little kids were able to help me out and get involved with. I have to still glue some flock on the difficult terrain.
I have also tested my new photo setup with my SeaGuard. I painted the Sea Guard in 2022 with the idea of a Lion themed army for The Ninth Age. The Lion fur on these models is made using the texture plate from Green Stuff World. Now looking back at it I’m not entirely happy with the idea or execution of the conversion, but Here they are ether way.
I like the terrain / photo background idea And getting the kids involved is always great. Maybe it's time I start handing mine brushes
I think the fur on the LSG is fine as is. Yes it can be improved upon, but it does its job for a core unit at tabletop standard. It gives the LSG a WL feel when seen from a distance across the table. So I'd still be happy with them as a result.
Of course, I've also got a "rule" for myself where once I call a model complete, I don't touch it anymore (except to repair it...). Done is done. I'm a slow enough painter as it is, so I don't need to be painting my models twice. Maybe once everything is painted I'll head back and improve on the earlier stuff. Though I doubt that. I'll probably just buy more new stuff...
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!
Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 168/157/17
Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.
It was great to get the kids involved in a simple process. Both of my kids are under 5 so slapping the brown base paint on the board was easy……but the dry brushing a little more complicated
I could honestly work on a miniature forever and never be completely happy with the paint job! So I am similar to you and just have to call it at a point that I am happy to accept on the table top. I am certainly happy with the overall job on the Sea Guard, just not overly happy with the fur concept. But hey I learnt a lot along the way particularly when using putty (which is something I am very very slowly improving on).
. However I hope I can then swap it out for horses as a Reaver Chariot, or I thought I can at least use the lions as unit fillers if I don’t have the chariot in my list. 
